Imaginative vs. competitive: How kids and adults game differently

EDITOR'S NOTEfrom James DeRosa

I've always tried to maintain a certain sense of childlike wonder when it comes to games. I think that's why I'm such a sucker for any indie title that has even the tiniest kernel of originality. I'm not sure if this attitude is better or worse than a hardcore addiction to Achievements and Call of Duty's online play, but over the years, it has certainly kept me from growing weary of the “me too” repetitiveness of most first-person shooters.

I’ve noticed that as I’ve gotten older I don’t play games solely for fun anymore. On the first playthrough, I consider the story and ending a reward. If there are no unlockables or Achievements that I want, I usually won’t play the single-player mode more than once. I've encountered a few exceptions, but I typically don’t find myself replaying longer games for fun. And isn’t having fun the point of any hobby?

No Achievements here...just plain old fun!

Recently, I was hanging out at my girlfriend’s house. I watched her little brother play Halo: Reach’s Forge mode with a few friends online. They were doing silly things like jumping off high platforms and building ramps to launch vehicles off of. I didn’t see the point in it, but it looked and sounded like they were having a blast.

Then I remembered that 10 years ago I was doing the same thing in Halo: Combat Evolved. The original Halo had no unlockables or Achievements, yet I beat it on every difficulty and explored every nook and cranny of the game simply because I enjoyed it. Sometimes my neighbor would come over, and we’d spend hours replaying levels and trying out every weird idea that crossed our minds.

I don’t even play custom content online anymore because it usually doesn’t get me any credits or experience points. Nowadays, I'm far more likely to play a series of frustrating online matches; the hope is that I'll get a few experience points toward a prestige level, an unlockable, or an Achievement that has almost no effect on my game.

At first I thought it was just me, but the same applies to many of the people I play with. Why do we keep putting ourselves through this? What happened? Are we the reason every developer has started implementing multiplayer and padding their game with collectibles?

I’m not saying reward hunting is bad or not fun. A certain satisfaction accompanies that "Achievement Unlocked” sound, and rewards are a good way to persuade players to try something new. I just can’t understand how or why I became driven solely by formalized rewards.

Perhaps it’s just an effect of maturing -- of not being as easily entertained as I used to be. I can’t totally blame the industry: Rewards and unlockables have been around longer than I have.

But now that the summer slump is upon us, I think I’m going to take a break from competitive Trophy chasing. It'd be nice to play some old games and try out some new stuff just for fun. Maybe I’ll replay BioShock and try out some different plasmids or learn to use some new characters in Super Street Fighter 4. I invite and encourage you to do the same.

Tags: BioShock, Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo: Reach, Super Street Fighter 4

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James Schifflin

July 08, 2011

Sounds like a dispute between the intrinsic and extrinsic rewards of playing. Achievements and, to a lesser extent, unlockables reward you for the act of playing, while, ideally, playing should be its own reward. For example, there are a few games that I've been replaying for decades, even though they've been thoroughly beaten and memorized. There's just something about them; the art, sound, design, physics, the hard-coded laws governing the game's universes that make navigating them such a joy. It sounds like you had a similar experience with "Halo."

As to why the intrinsic joy of playing may have diminished? Perhaps it's just that you've seen it all before. Game design is evolutionary, after all. The games I mentioned tended to be new and different to me when I was introduced to them. That effect is harder to pull of twenty years and hundreds of games later. When "Halo" was released it was revolutionary. However, after playing what is, in large part, "Halo" in different contexts for the next ten years, that experience may have just lost its edge and can't thrill like it used to. Your girlfriend's brother is having a blast with "Halo: Reach," but do you expect him to tackle "Halo" 4, 5, and 6 with the same fervor?

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Danny Concepcion

You make a great point, James. I doubt he'll have as much fun playing Halo as he gets older. I'm sure some of it has to do with seeing it all before. That may be why I'm not as easily entertained, and willing to explore anymore. What is your opinion on rewards? Do you find yourself reward chasing now more than you used to?

July 10, 2011

I have nothing against rewards and collectibles in general. They can affect gameplay or expound on story, like heart containers in "Zelda" or scans in "Metroid Prime." And if I don't feel they add any value, I tend to just ignore 'em. After the final boss fight in "Batman: Arkham Asylum," I went back for the Riddler riddles because they had a puzzle-solving element and provided some Batman fan-service; I got a lot of entertainment out of them. The Joker Teeth and achievements I hardly cared about.

So no, I can't say I reward chase any more than I used to, but I was never a reward-chaser. My tastes tend to skew towards the arcadey actiony side of the spectrum, and even then I'm a chronic game nonfinisher. With few exceptions, I never took the time to 100% a game or level up all the characters. Tell me, did you tend to be a completionist in your gaming infancy?